Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Royal Museums Greenwich spent on equality and diversity training in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by John Whittingdale
On 2 October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a value for money audit of all equality, diversity and inclusion expenditure in the Civil Service. The audit will dovetail with the public sector productivity review, aiming to deliver a leaner, more efficient Government. The audit forms part of our drive to improve productivity across the public sector by driving down waste and improving performance. The findings and actions of the audit will be announced by the Chancellor in the autumn.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to have discussions with senior staff at the British Museum about returning the Mold Gold Cape to Wales.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The British Museum operates independently of His Majesty's Government, and decisions relating to the care and management of its collections are a matter for the Museum’s trustees.
The British Museum, as well as some other national museums, is prevented by law from removing objects from its collections, with a limited number of exceptions, none of which apply in this case. The Government has no plan to change the law.
As the former Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, recounts in his A History of the World in 100 Objects (2010), it is thanks to the work of the British Museum over more than a century that so many fragments of the Mold Gold Cape have been reunited, following their dispersal shortly after it was discovered at Bryn-yr-Ellyllon in 1833.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970 in relation to (1) their responsibilities for the governance of the British Museum, and (2) the role and responsibilities of its Trustees.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government expects UK museums to have and to follow appropriate policies and procedures to prevent the acquisition of cultural property contrary to the provisions of the UNESCO 1970 Convention.
The British Museum requires compliance with the Convention and with all other national and international standards, as stated in its ‘Acquisitions of Objects for the Collection’ policy and its ‘Due diligence procedures for works of art and cultural objects on loan from abroad for temporary exhibitions’.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with (a) libraries and (b) local councils on the potential presence of reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC) in their library buildings.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks on 1 May 2019.
Individual building owners and managers are responsible for health and safety, including responding to safety alerts such as this. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.
As buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed instances of RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.
The delivery of public library services, including the maintenance of the buildings through which that is done, is a responsibility for upper-tier local authorities under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.
The Local Government Association (LGA) has advised members to check whether any buildings in their estates have RAAC, to ensure it can be identified, assessed, and responded to accordingly. This is accessible on the LGA website and in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. If further buildings are identified as having suspected or confirmed RAAC, building owners and managers should follow the guidance to put appropriate mitigation in place.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay on 20 September (HL9874), what plans they have to support the International Training Programme; how many African museum curators have benefited from it in each of the past three years; and from which countries they have come.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Over the past three years, 16 museum curators from across Africa have participated in the British Museum’s International Training Programme; this includes participants from the following countries and institutions:
2023
Archeological Enfidha Museum, Tunisia
National Museum, Nigeria
Unity Museum, Nigeria
National Museums of Kenya, Kenya
Imhotep Museum, Egypt
Alexandria National Museum, Egypt
2022
Luxor Museum, Egypt
Akhenaton Museum, Egypt
Sudan National Museum, Sudan
Unity Museum, Nigeria
The National Institute of Heritage, Tunisia
2021
Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Ghana
Edo Global Art Foundation, Nigeria
Sudan National Museum, Sudan
Gebal Barkal Museum, Sudan
More details on the International Training Programme, including its funders, can be found in the annual reports that the British Museum publishes: https://www.bmitpglobalnetwork.org/publications/annual-reports/.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many new public libraries have opened since 2010.
Answered by John Whittingdale
This information is not collected by the department. However, Arts Council England collects data from local authorities and publishes a basic dataset of information on public libraries in England. The libraries basic dataset 2022 shows the number of static libraries in England (statutory and non-statutory) as at 1 April 2010, 1 July 2016, 31 December 2019, 31 December 2021 and 31 December 2022. It can be found here.
This dataset indicates that there are around 150 static public libraries which were not part of statutory provision in 2010 but were at 31 December 2022.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) whether the items held by the British Museum looted from Britain’s former colonial possessions in West Africa, or during Britain’s historic military expeditions on that continent, have been catalogued; and (2) the extent of knowledge of the contents of such collections.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The British Museum has 8 million objects in its collection, with 4.5 million currently on the Museum’s public database. The Museum is undertaking an ongoing digitisation project which will ensure that all the objects in its care will be catalogued and available to its global audience on its public database.
The Museum’s collections from Africa are well-catalogued, to the benefit of the public and researchers from across the world. The Museum undertakes extensive research into its collections, including in partnership with African institutions. This is available online at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/projects.
The British Museum also has strong links with a variety of African partners. Since 2005, through the Africa Programme, the Museum has worked collaboratively with partner institutions to deliver training and workshops in museum practice in a number of African countries. Colleagues from across Africa also travel to the UK for project-based work placements at the Museum and in its partner museums across the UK. The world-leading annual International Training Programme run by the Museum also offers opportunities for African colleagues to meet peers from global heritage institutions.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the recovery of stolen artefacts from the British Museum; and what measures they are taking to increase security in this area.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
My department is closely monitoring the situation at the British Museum, and engaging directly with the Museum on this concerning issue.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has spoken with the Chairman of the British Museum about this issue on a number of occasions and has sought assurances on the immediate measures that have been put in place to increase security at the Museum. She has also sought assurances on the details of the scope and timetable for the independent review of security which the Museum has instigated, led by a former trustee, Nigel Boardman, and the Chief Constable of British Transport Police, Lucy D’Orsi. The review will also support efforts to recover all missing collection items.
The matter is also currently under investigation by the Economic Crime Command of the Metropolitan Police. The British Museum is working with the police to support their investigations.
My department and I will continue to work closely with the British Museum – and the wider museums sector – to ensure that lessons are learned from this incident once the independent review is complete.
Further details on this matter have been set out in the Written Statements which the Secretary of State and I made to Parliament on 4 September 2023 (HCWS994 and HLWS979).
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the number of public libraries that have reduced their opening (a) hours and (b) days in each year since 2010.
Answered by John Whittingdale
This information is not collected by the department. Arts Council England collects data from local authorities and publishes a basic dataset of information on public libraries in England, which provides current, but not historical, information about opening hours.
The dataset can be found here.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the number of libraries that were used as warm spaces in winter 2022-23.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The delivery of public library services is a responsibility for upper-tier local authorities under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964. It is for those authorities to determine provision based on local needs and priorities, including the use of libraries as warm hubs.
Last winter, a number of local authorities indicated that they intended to use public and community-managed buildings including libraries to provide additional support and advice to local residents following the rise in energy costs. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport engaged with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to ensure that the Government’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme supported businesses and non-domestic customers such as libraries and other community spaces. Libraries and archives were also eligible to receive an enhanced level of support under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme.